Carrousel Given Tlc Riverfront Park Attraction Gets Heavy Use

The tiger was loose, two horses had broken legs, three more lost their tails and Prince, the lead horse, was making funny squeaking sounds.

Last weekend was a hard one on the 86-year-old carrousel at Riverfront Park.

Since then, maintenance workers stopped the tiger from wobbling, quieted Prince and reattached tails.

One broken leg was fixed. The other fracture proved more complicated, so that horse was put out to pasture for the time being.

The rides and other attractions at Riverfront Park are open daily through Labor Day on Monday. After that, the park goes into its non-summer mode and the carrousel is open on weekends, weather permitting.

Keeping the carrousel running week after week is an on-going commitment for Hal McGlathery, Riverfront Park manager. He takes pride in making sure needed repairs are made weekly.

Every winter, he sees to it that one row of animals is restored by an artist. This winter, all the cranks will be replaced.

The cranks, bent steel shafts that pump the horses up and down, have been a continuous headache for several years. One row of horses began to vibrate, indicating a crack in the crank.

So the carrousel staff roped off the row until the damage can be assessed.

Welders can repair the cracks, but the steel is weakened in other places and the cranks inevitably crack again.

McGlathery has found a machine shop willing to make a prototype. If that works, all the cranks will be replaced.

“We take a great deal of pride in that carrousel,” McGlathery said. “I would stake my reputation that it’s the best cared for carrousel in the country.”

Possibly the only remaining one hand-carved by renowned Charles Looff himself, the carrousel was a wedding gift to his daughter in 1909.

She and her husband moved to Spokane and set up their merry-go-round in Natatorium Park.

After changing hands a couple of times, the carrousel ended up the property of the city in the mid-1970s. It became the centerpiece of Riverfront Park and is its most popular attraction.

More than 200,000 riders mount the animals every summer. Up to 3,500 people ride it a day. Tickets cost $1. With that kind of use, park maintenance staff spend a lot of time at the carrousel just to keep it running, McGlathery said.

The worst damage is done when people use the galloping legs of the 54 horses as steps, he said. That breaks the wooden carvings at their joints. Some breaks, like those that splinter the wood, are difficult and time consuming to repair.

Tails, on the other hand, are easy to fix. They fall out all the time. A repairman simply wedges them back into place with a special tool, McGlathery said.

Most of the damage is inadvertent or unavoidable, McGlathery said. Rarely does anyone deliberately mar the antique carved horses, lion or giraffe.

“People are very appreciative of the carrousel,” he said. “Most people know a little of the history and they realize this is a gem.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo